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Contributor: As today’s Oscar nominations show, Hollywood animation is in creative crisis

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Contributor: As today’s Oscar nominations show, Hollywood animation is in creative crisis

Animation is the backbone of the film industry, boosting the global box office year after year. But such consistent success comes at the expense of artistic risk-taking — at least as it relates to the animated features produced by Hollywood studios.

To judge from this morning’s Oscar nominations — and the last few years of winners, including the humbly made “Flow” — the formulas that U.S. animation have come to rely on might be losing their stronghold to more innovative, outside-the-box creators.

Minions from the “Despicable Me” movies and talking animals in countless other CGI movies bring people to theaters, but their financial triumph is hindering animation as an art form in the U.S. That’s because their profitability perpetuates animation’s dismissive status as suited only for families or kids.

In 2025, three of the highest-grossing theatrical releases globally were fully animated (China’s “Ne Zha 2,” Disney’s “Zootopia 2,” and Japan’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle”), while two more were hybrid iterations of animated hits from decades past (“Lilo & Stitch,” “How to Train Your Dragon”). Two more of the year-end top-10 titles, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and “A Minecraft Movie” also use digital animation techniques to bring their worlds to life.

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And this week, “Zootopia 2” became the highest-grossing U.S. animated film of all time with $1.7 billion worldwide, surely paving the way for more sequels. The fifth installments of two of the most successful animated franchises, “Toy Story” and “Shrek,” will hit screens in a few months. Betting on already proven properties is an industry standard, but it’s felt more egregious in animation as of late.

When the box office continues to respond so positively to more of the same, what’s the incentive for executives and shareholders to think of animation beyond narratives that cater to young audiences or to consider new, more daring concepts?

Pixar Studios’ “Elio,” though well received by critics despite a complicated birth (the film changed directors late in its production), underperformed in theaters, as have most recent original projects. And while “Zootopia 2” fared well on the critical front, it’s hard not to feel like it’s ultimately a variation on a tried-and-true formula, even if it folds in timely ideas amid its animal puns.

But to compare either of them to this morning’s other nominees is to notice that animation can be at once entertaining, intellectually complex and visually distinct. The two French films included, “Arco” and “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain,” prove that even films suited for young audiences can engage with difficult realities like mortality, loss or issues of global warming and our future as a species. They don’t underestimate their audience.

There’s an aversion in Hollywood’s animation to engage with challenging subject matter or to consider that adult viewers can also find enjoyment in animated projects catered to them. The Disney Renaissance of the ’90s is not only revered for the artistry of its hand-drawn worlds, but because the impeccable craft went hand-in-hand with dramatically charged, rather mature stories. It would be unthinkable for Hollywood to make a film like 1996’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” today and market it as a family picture.

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Instead, the studio’s approach to entice adults is to bank on nostalgia: rehashed hybrid productions of animated properties that today’s adults watched as children. On the extremely rare occasion that an animated feature for grown-ups comes to fruition, it’s a streaming-only release, exhibiting the industry’s lack of confidence.

That was the case with Hulu’s gruesome “Predator: Killer of Killers” and Sony Pictures Animation’s hand-drawn “Fixed,” a flawed film but one whose unabashed raunchiness was reminiscent of Ralph Bakshi’s provocative animated works of the ’70s and ’80s.

Though certainly not on the same wavelength, the now ubiquitous phenomenon that is “KPop Demon Hunters” suffered a similar fate at first. The Sony-produced musical saga had a quiet awards-qualifying run in June, but it was only after it organically built an audience on Netflix that it received a more publicized, if still limited theatrical release.

For a long while, the Oscars have been complicit in lowering expectations of Hollywood animation. After years of Walt Disney Animation or Pixar taking the award almost by default (which speaks to the academy membership‘s disinterest in animation beyond the most commercial titles), a shift has occurred lately.

When “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” and Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” won Oscars for their more adult-skewed risks, one could have attributed their victories to those directors’ fan bases. But last year’s win for “Flow,” a Latvian film with no dialogue from a first-time director and distributed in the U.S. by Janus Films, felt like a meaningful sign that perhaps the industry as a whole might be ready to embrace animation with more curiosity.

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Adventurous animated features, both thematically and from an aesthetic standpoint, exist almost exclusively outside of this country. In Europe, for example, there are state funds that support the creation of artistically audacious projects. In the U.S., even the most formally bold films, like the genuinely inventive “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” must be tied to popular intellectual property in order to get green-lit.

Even in the face of Hollywood’s timidity, some American independent animators have managed to push their offbeat visions through as features made with limited resources. There’s Julian Glander’s hilarious indictment of gig hustling, “Boys Go to Jupiter,” Dash Shaw’s quirky and unexpected films “Cryptozoo” and “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea,” or the work of perennial indie master Bill Plympton, who last year debuted “Slide,” his latest independently produced animated feature in a body of work unafraid of depicting violence and sex.

In the end, the highest-grossing animated film of all time globally is now “Ne Zha 2,” a breathtaking Chinese action-comedy that appealed to local sensibilities. Its intricate lore, numerous characters, endless battles and long running time might scare off outsiders, yet there’s something defiant about an animated feature unconcerned with its prospects among Western viewers.

If Hollywood studios could think smaller, more niche and more eclectically, the animation industry wouldn’t hinge on the bankability of a few four-quadrant movies, but on a healthy and varied slate of projects targeted at different age groups and interests. Hopefully the journey of “KPop Demon Hunters,” surpassing everyone’s expectations, can teach Hollywood that both audiences and Oscar voters thirst for fresher adventures in animation.

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Todd Meadows, ‘Deadliest Catch’ deckhand, dies at 25

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Todd Meadows, ‘Deadliest Catch’ deckhand, dies at 25

Todd Meadows, a crewmember on one of the fishing vessels featured on the long-running reality series “Deadliest Catch,” has died. He was 25.

Rick Shelford, the captain of the Aleutian Lady, announced in a Monday post on Facebook and Instagram that Meadows died Feb. 25. He called it “the most tragic day in the history of the Aleutian Lady on the Bering Sea.”

“We lost our brother,” Shelford wrote in his lengthy tribute. “Todd was the newest member of our crew, he quickly became family. His love for fishing and his strong work ethic earned everyone’s respect right away. His smile was contagious, and the sound of his laughter coming up the wheelhouse stairs or over the deck hailer is something we will carry with us always.

“He worked hard, loved deeply, and brought joy to those around him,” he added. “Todd will forever be part of this boat, this crew, and this brotherhood. Though we lost him far too soon, his legacy will live on through his children and in every memory we carry of him.”

A fundraiser set up in Meadows’ name described the deckhand from Montesano, Wash., as a father to “three amazing little boys” who died “while doing what he loved — crabbing out on Alaskan waters.”

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According to the Associated Press, Meadows died after he was reported to have fallen overboard around 170 miles north of Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

“He was recovered unresponsive by the crew approximately ten minutes later,” Chief Petty Officer Travis Magee, a spokesperson with the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, told the AP. The Coast Guard is investigating the incident.

Meadows was a first-year cast member of “Deadliest Catch,” the Discovery Channel reality series that follows crab fishermen navigating the perilous winds and waves of the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons. The show debuted in 2005. No episodes from Meadows’ season has aired.

Deadline reported that the show was in production on its 22nd season when the incident occurred, with the Shelford-led Aleutian Lady being the last of the vessels still out at sea at the time. Production has subsequently concluded, per the outlet.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Todd Meadows,” a Discovery Channel spokesperson said in a statement that has been widely circulated. “This is a devastating loss, and our hearts are with his loved ones, his crewmates, and the entire fishing community during this incredibly difficult time.”

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Meadows is the latest among “Deadliest Catch” cast members who have died. Previous deaths include Phil Harris, a captain of one of the ships featured on the show, who died after suffering a stroke while filming the show’s sixth season in 2010. Todd Kochutin, a crew member of the Patricia Lee, died in 2021 from injuries he sustained while aboard the fishing vessel, according to an obituary. Other cast members have died from substance abuse or natural causes.

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‘Hoppers’ review: Pixar’s best original movie in years

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‘Hoppers’ review: Pixar’s best original movie in years

“So it’s like Avatar?” one character quips in Disney and Pixar’s “Hoppers,” bluntly translating the film’s high-concept premise for the sugar-fueled kids in the audience. And yes, the comparison is apt. The story follows a nature-obsessed teenage girl who manages to quite literally “hop” her consciousness into the body of a robotic beaver in order to spark an animal rebellion against a greedy mayor determined to bulldoze their forest for a freeway. 

It’s a clever hook. The kind of big, elastic idea Pixar used to make look effortless. “Hoppers” does not reach the rarified air of “Up,” “Wall-E,” or “Inside Out,” but after a stretch of uneven originals like “Turning Red” and “Luca,” and outright misfires such as “Elemental” and “Elio,” this feels like a genuine course correction. The environmental messaging is clear without being preachy, the animals are irresistibly anthropomorphized, and the studio’s once-signature emotional sincerity is back in sturdy form.

Pixar can afford to gamble on originals when it has a guaranteed cash cow like this summer’s “Toy Story 5” waiting in the wings, but “Hoppers” earns its place in the catalogue. Director Daniel Chong crafts a warm, heartfelt film that occasionally strains under the weight of its own ambition, yet remains grounded by character and theme. Its meditation on conservation and animal displacement feels timely in a way that never tips into after-school-special territory.

We meet Mabel, voiced with bright conviction by Piper Curda, as a child liberating her classroom pets and returning them to the wild. Her moral compass is shaped by her grandmother, voiced by Karen Huie, who imparts wisdom about nature’s sanctity. True to both Pixar tradition and the broader Disney playbook, this beacon of guidance does not survive past the opening act. Loss, after all, is Pixar’s favorite inciting incident.

Years later, Mabel is still fighting the good fight, squaring off against the smarmy Mayor Jerry, voiced with slick menace by Jon Hamm. He plans to flatten the glade where Mabel and her grandmother once found solace. Mabel’s resistance feels noble but futile. The animals have already mysteriously vanished, the machinery is coming, and her last-ditch plan involves luring a beaver back to the abandoned forest in hopes of jumpstarting the ecosystem.

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That’s when the film gleefully pivots into mad-scientist territory. At Beaverton University, Mabel discovers her professor, voiced by Kathy Najimy, has developed a device that can project human consciousness into synthetic animals. The process, dubbed “hopping,” allows Mabel to inhabit a robotic beaver and infiltrate the forest from within. It’s an inspired escalation that keeps the film buoyant even when the plotting grows predictable.

Her new posse includes King George, a lovably beaver voiced by Bobby Moynihan with distinct Bing Bong energy; a sharp-tongued bear voiced by Melissa Villaseñor; a regal bird king voiced by the late Isiah Whitlock Jr.; and a fish queen voiced by Ego Nwodim. As is often the case with Pixar, even in its lesser efforts, the world-building is meticulous. The animal hierarchy, complete with titles like “paw of the king,” is layered with jokes that play for kids while slyly winking at adults.

The plot ultimately follows a familiar template. Scrappy underdog rallies community. Corporate villain twirls metaphorical mustache. Emotional third-act sacrifice looms. At times, you can feel the machinery working a little too cleanly. Pixar, and Disney at large, has grown increasingly reliant on sequels and established IP, and “Hoppers” does not radically reinvent the wheel. In an animated landscape where films like “K-Pop: Demon Hunters,” “Across the Spider-Verse,” and “Goat” are pushing stylistic and narrative boundaries, being safe and sturdy may not always be enough.

And yet, there is something refreshing about a Pixar original that remembers how to tug at the heart without squeezing it dry. “Hoppers” is playful, peppered with cheeky needle drops, and builds to a sweet emotional catharsis that may or may not have left this critic a little misty-eyed. It feels earnest and engaged. 

“Hoppers” may not be top-tier Pixar. But it is a welcome return to form, a reminder that the studio still knows how to marry big ideas with a bigger heart.

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HOPPERS opens in theaters Friday, March 6th.

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How a mural of Altadena became a symbol of resilience for one small store, through fire and flood

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How a mural of Altadena became a symbol of resilience for one small store, through fire and flood

Every time Adriana Molina drives up Lake Avenue to her retro-style women’s clothing shop Sidecca in Altadena, she sees the new outdoor mural she commissioned for the store by muralist and illustrator Annie Bolding. It gives her hope.

“I’m here to stay, and this mural solidified my decision to reopen my business,” said Molina on a recent winter day, sitting next to Bolding inside the boutique. “I grew up in Altadena. The community has motivated me this whole time, and I want them to drive by this mural and smile.”

“ALTADENA.” The word — in big white letters, set against layers of blue — appears toward the top of the mural, on the store’s brick wall facing Lake. Above are the San Gabriel Mountains, painted a deep brown, California poppies and Mariposa Street and Lake Avenue street signs. Below are green grass, a monarch butterfly and Altadena’s Christmas Tree Lane. A bright blue house is on a multicolored striped path in the middle of the mural. Next to it, on a hiking trail, a sign says, “Welcome Home Altadena… With Love, Sidecca.”

For Molina and Bolding, the mural is a personal ode to the Eaton fire-ravaged community — art as a message of optimism and healing.

A car passes by the new Altadena mural on the side of Sidecca apparel shop, which commissioned the piece after fire and floods devastated the community.

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(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

When the fire tore through Altadena in January 2025, Sidecca and a few other stores on the north side of Mariposa Street’s bustling Mariposa Junction survived, while the other half-block of businesses burned to the ground. The fire leveled Bolding’s parents’ house off Lake and the home of one of Molina’s close relatives.

Molina staged pop-ups and sold merchandise online during months of remediation, and officially reopened Sidecca’s doors in November as part of Mariposa Junction’s larger comeback. Then the store suffered another blow: flooding and damage during rainstorms in late December. While Molina prepped to temporarily close her store yet again for renovations, Bolding began work on the mural. She started painting on the one-year anniversary of the fire and finished eight days later.

“On the day I started it, it was so cold and windy, and I was scared being up on the ladder,” said Bolding. “But getting to talk to community members while I was painting was very special. People were excited and honking as they drove by. That night, I drove up to the lot where my parents’ place was, and I stood there and all the feelings flooded back.”

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The mural’s origin story is that of two creative women bound by strength and a desire to give back.

Molina, who has worked in the fashion industry for more than 30 years, opened Sidecca’s Altadena spot in 2023, after closing its longtime Pasadena location. Voted Pasadena’s best women’s clothing store five times by Pasadena Weekly, Sidecca sells fun vintage-inspired merchandise and clothes, from ‘50s style dresses to snazzy magnets, tote bags and sunglasses. A big rainbow zips across the top of one of the store’s walls.

A display in a clothing shop.

A display in Sidecca in 2023, two years before the Eaton fire devastated Altadena.

(Alejandro R. Jimenez)

“A few months after Sidecca opened in Altadena, my mom walked in and saw how colorful it was, and said, ‘This reminds me of my daughter,’ ” Bolding said. “With zero hesitation, my mom said to Adriana, ‘Here’s her Instagram. This is my daughter’s stuff.’ ”

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Bolding, who goes by Disco Day Designs, calls herself “a joyful creator who loves to intentionally transform spaces.” Known for the bright murals she creates for brands and shops, Bolding gained attention on social media for a trash bin she painted with palm trees and stripes. She brought it to the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival as part of a contest organized by the festival’s sustainability partner, Global Inheritance.

“I fixated on the trash can,” said Molina. “I looked at Annie’s murals and was like, ‘Oh, she has to do something in here for us.’ ”

“Game recognizes game,” added Bolding, smiling.

Molina wanted to rebrand Sidecca with a new logo, bags and art, and connected with Bolding about that and a possible mural inside the store. “I wanted ‘Sidecca’ painted across a wall as an acronym that stands for style, individuality, diversity, expression, community, culture and art,” she said. “That’s who we are.”

Then came Jan. 7, 2025.

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The store was closed all day for a holiday lunch. Then the winds picked up and the flames roared. Molina, who lives with her husband and two children on the Altadena-Pasadena, evacuated with her family to Long Beach and came back days later. She knew the store was OK because she’d seen it — intact — on the news.

“As soon as we could come up to the shop, we went,” Molina said. “There were ashes all over.”

Bolding and her husband were in Palm Springs fixing up an AirBnb they cohost when Bolding got a call from her mom about the fire in Altadena. She urged her mom, dad and younger brother to evacuate. After they did, their home burned down. Her parents now live in a Pasadena apartment.

When Molina started selling Altadena-themed merch on Sidecca’s website, Bolding donated three designs, including one with lively retro daisies. In July, she wrote an email to Molina reviving the idea of a mural, but outside versus inside, as an ode to Altadena.

“It felt like anything I could do to bring joy, let’s go,” said Molina. “And I really wanted a little house in there, and for it to say, ‘Welcome home.’ ”

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The mural would be Bolding’s first public piece of art on a main street.

“Lake always felt like the road going home,” she said. “That rainbow road in the mural, leading to the mountains, is so symbolic. Very ‘Wizard of Oz.’ The mountains, their silhouette, have always felt majestic, safe, and why it was so heartbreaking anytime to see them burn. To me, they feel like mother.”

A woman in front of a colorful mural.

Muralist Annie Bolding stands in front of her new Altadena mural on the side of the Sidecca apparel shop. The work is Bolding’s first piece of public art on a main street.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Bolding’s joyful daisies decorated the Sidecca tote bag given to customers at November’s reopening, just before December’s intense rainstorms. Water gushed through Sidecca’s ceiling. Molina and her employee Manisa Ianakiev were overwhelmed.

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“We were like, ‘Is this really happening?’ ” said Molina. “Then people started bringing tools and towels. It was an example of community.”

Bolding planned to start painting the mural Jan. 4, during the Altadena Forever Run, but rain swept through. After Molina’s landlord installed a plywood base, Bolding started on the mural several days later.

Since then, the shop’s ceiling has been replaced, and Molina is working on trying to replace the floor — while continuing to stage pop-ups and sell merchandise online — before fully reopening the bricks-and-mortar boutique this spring.

“People say, ‘Every time I go into your store, I just get happy. I’m in a better mood,’ ” said Molina. “I get that all the time. And what Annie has done, this mural, is beautiful. It makes me happy.”

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